Into the Shadows

For his last parliamentary appearance as Canada's Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King had put on a black suit, a crisp white shirt, a grey tie with pearl stickpin. Hardly anyone noticed him as he slipped into his chair in the green House of Commons chamber. Only 47 of the 245 members were at their desks. The rest had already left for their summer holidays.

The fourth session of Canada's 20th Parliament had been a bore from the start. Its chief issues: the shortage of U.S. dollars, freight-rate increases, the $2,175,000,000 budget. All had been handled the easy way, by voting "yes" to the Cabinet's decisions. The high cost of living was talked about by everybody, then sidestepped; so was the touchy subject of Canada's ban on margarine.

As the last of the session's 399 bills and 5,000,000 words of debate were put into the record, Prime Minister King, 21 years and 25 days in office as head of Canada's government, rose to address the House. He reminded members of his decision to resign as Prime Minister two or three months after the August Liberal Convention has picked his successor. As he spoke, External Affairs Secretary Louis St. Laurent, his heir apparent, and Agriculture Minister James Gardiner, St. Laurent's only admitted rival, sat near by. For them or whoever else would take his place, Mackenzie King had two final thoughts: 1) the Prime Minister's office should have a larger staff; 2) there should be an official Prime Minister's residence (Laurier House, where King lives, is his own property, a legacy from Lady Laurier). Then without a word of farewell, he sat down.

Through the years, as Mackenzie King had plodded past Sir John A. Macdonald's Canadian record of 18 years, 11 months and 26 days as Prime Minister, and Sir Robert Walpole's British Empire record of 20 years, 10 months and 10 days (TIME, May 3), M.P.s had eulogized him many times. Last week, at his last parliamentary milestone, there was nothing left to say. While the House went on with its business, the Prime Minister sat at his desk, staring blankly at the rows of empty seats. After a giant yawn, just before the session's end, he got up and started out of the chamber. Members who saw him leaving thumped briefly on their desks. One member stood up and clapped. Old Mackenzie King waved a limp right hand, faded into the shadows behind the Speaker's throne.

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